Digging deeper into notebook: the Swedish goalie, Stockholm travel and more on being swept

Let’s just say I’m weaning myself from WTC this week. Turns out a few noteworthy things didn’t make it out of the notebook yesterday. Here goes and, after this, it’ll probably be a while before I show up again. Thanks, by the way, for all the kind words and well wishes.

****Left out of most of the discussion as the Sharks goaltending future has been Henrik Karlsson. He has been in San Jose since the playoffs began and was there yesterday for the farewells.

The 6-foot-5, 205-pound Karlsson signed a one-year deal last summer and played in Sweden this season, where he had four shutouts, a 2.45 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage in 40 games.

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Karlsson and the Sharks are looking to extend his contract, but I don’t know if he’s seen as an NHL option just yet. Still, he earned $1.3 million playing in Sweden and that’s not chump change. Hmmm.

****Speaking of Sweden, the only thing passing for news today is the Sharks announcement that they’ve got high-end travel packages set up for fans who want to be in Stockholm for the 2010-11 season opening games against Columbus.

All the information is available at the team’s web site, so I won’t go into every detail here. But I will provide the prices so you can decide if it’s something you might want to check out. For what it’s worth, I’ve got a friend in St. Louis who’s a hard-core hockey fan and he went to Stockholm last season when the Blues opened against Detroit. Swears it was worth every penny. Still …

Basically, the prices below include four nights in a hotel, special events, breakfast, buses around town and a ticket to each game.

“Air packages are priced at $4,335 per person (single occupancy), $3,645 per person (double occupancy) and $3,475 per person (triple occupancy). Land packages — which include everything but the airfare — are priced at $3,135 per person (single occupancy), $2,445 per person (double occupancy) and $2,275 per person (triple occupancy). Package pricing includes all taxes. For more information or to make reservations, visit www.sjsharks.com or call (800) 924-9993.”

****I’ve noticed all the back and forth in here on the fact the Sharks were swept by the Blackhawks and whether that significantly undercuts whatever progress San Jose made in advancing to the WCF for the first time since 2004.

So yesterday I asked a handful of players if being swept really mattered all that much, if extending the series to five or six games would have made them feel any better.

Rob Blake: “I don’t get too concerned with the length of the series. The concern would be the competitiveness and I thought our team had a good approach to that.

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“Whether it’s four games or a seven-game series, we got to the semi-finals – four teams left in the league. That’s not easy to do. It’s a step in the right direction as long as you build off it. That was the message here today and I’m sure guys took it to heart.”

Joe Pavelski: “Yeah, you never want to get swept 4-0. . . . It’s funny how fast it can happen. Obviously we should have won more games than that. It doesn’t feel good either way. The effort was there, the result wasn’t so there’s more to do.”

Scott Nichol: “It sure didn’t seem like a sweep. I remember Jonathatn Toews saying those were the four hardest games he’s played, but the bottom line is we didn’t get a win. We can always be better and you kind of go into the summer with that.”

Dan Boyle: “Truth is, as a competitor, being swept is tough. I do think anyone who knows anything about hockey and watched the games knows that essentially there were three one-goal games in that series. But swept is never good, it’s tough.”

****Scott Nichol and Manny Malhotra both sounded like UFAs who hope the Sharks have them in their future plans, though when pressed, Malhotra did acknowledge it’d be nice to earn market value rather than the $700,000 he made this past season.

“It would be nice to get whatever the market is going for,” Malhotra said, adding quickly: “I pay my agent to get that kind of stuff done. I play hockey.”

Malhotra described his year here as “a great experience.”

“Just talking with my wife, we’d love to stay here,” he said. “The talks we had last year with Doug, we didn’t want this to be a one and done kind of sitatuion. We wanted to find a home again, grow with an organization. It’s been a good start and hopefully this can continue.”

Nichol, who earned $750,000 last season, said he and his family like the area and, beyond that, the team’s mindset.

“We came here for one purpose – to win the Stanley Cup and be competitive. We accomplished being competitive and winning — just not winning the Stanley Cup,” he said. “But you get that taste in your mouth how great the playoffs were and going to the conference finals, and I want more. I want to keep going. It’s contagious.”

****I was going to go a little deeper into what Doug Wilson had to say yesterday, but my colleague Tim Kawakami was there for the extended conversation and he has this maddening habit of transcribing lengthy interviews and posting them on his blog. I don’t know where he gets the time and the ability to clean up typos, but it makes the rest of us look bad.

My point is, since Tim’s already done a lot of the heavy lifting, I’ll simply point you in his direction and save myself more than a few keystrokes. Link is in that right-hand column.

****Finally, an update on the chirping smoke detector (see tail end of Monday posting).

I completely dismantled the First Alert Model SA67B. There’s nothing left up there but two strips of adhesive and a couple of small holes in the ceiling. And the chirping continued.

So I climbed into the attic, dug through the insulation looking for a wire or something to disconnect and found absolutely nothing there (other than reverse side of those two holes). And the chirping continues.

Anybody?

David Pollak

David Pollak has been following the NHL forever and at the Mercury News as an editor or reporter since 1987. For almost a decade he wrote about the Sharks as the paper's Fan in the Stands before joining the sports department in 2001. He became the Sharks beat writer before the 2007-08 season and began this blog at that time. You can also follow him on Twitter at @PollakOnSharks.

I sure hope the management sees the fans reponse here and sees the mercury poll to who we should keep and not keep. Nabby had his chance and he is the weakest link in the team, he has proven time after time he cannot steal a game for the team in the PO’s or to take his game to another level during the PO.

will r.

#95, hawkcrusher. you should be aware though that Dean Lombardi was on nhl live the other day and did not sound like he was going to spend big bucks or go after big name ufa this summer. but he may have just been playing it cagey.

but IF Marleau ends up in LA playing the Sharks 6 times every year, it will be even more of a disgrace by DW to not only let go his star goal scorer, but even worse to let his division rival team get him and could well be a better team than the Sharks next season

db

I believe that the Kings will let Frolov go, and use that money plus a few mill more to sign Marleau if he gets to July 1.

and I think that will make them better than the sharks next season.

lyricalshark

Well put icehawkey #96.

Having worked for a professional sports team many (and I mean many!) years ago, I can tell you that players rarely shared that outlook. Most play for themselves and their fellow players and coaches, and rarely recognize the rest of the “teammates” involved. But, as you have said, without the fans there is no team — we “fans” are really the heart and soul. Everyone “get your game on” and keep providing opinions on what “we” should do. Afterall, opinion is part of the love of sports, and there is no right or wrong. And, anyway, what else would we talk about in this forum now that the season is over?

So, while team management, coaches, and players will not be reading this site to make personnel decisions and on-ice strategies/tactics, you can be rest-assured that management does care about fan sentiment and what will put butts in the seats. I would guarantee that at a minimum, there is an SJS marketing underling assigned to reading this site. Back in the day, as part of my job I used to have to read 12 different newspaper sports sections daily and highlight any mention of the team, management or ownership so that we could gage public reaction.

As an aside, hockey players seem to acknowledge the fans a bit more than other athletes, it’s part of what I enjoy about this great sport.

the Kings have Modin and Jones, and Halpern all UFA and making a total of $8 mill

that is enough right there to afford Marleau.

Johnny San Jose

icehawkey # 100 — The name that has come out of WTC is “The Kracken”. Bigger than the “Monster” in Toronto.

NB Finfan

So Hawks lost 22 games this year, 2 more than the Sharks. They lost 2 games to the Preds, and 2 games to Canucks, and 0 games to the Sharks. They lost only 1 game to the Sharks all year.

So why did the Sharks have such a hard time with the Hawks when other teams fared better?

I think it was due to a combination of how quickly they move the puck and that the Sharks have a hard time sorting things out defensively. The Hawks did a very good job of creating confusion in the Sharks end and made them miss defensive assignments.

The Sharks on the other hand do not move the puck quickly. They are very deliberate on their passing and a lot of times dont even pass the puck very well. The slow movement of the puck is why I think their PP doesnt convert often enough and also the reason why so many goalies look great against them. It is because they give the goalie enough time to get back in postition and defenses to get into passing and shooting lanes.

With that said, I think the Flyers are going to give the Hawks a good run for their money and hopefully the cup will stay out of Hossa’s hands. Also dont forget Chicago’s curse is still in play here. Hopefully the curse will stay in effect until the cups ladle is returned.

hawkcrusher

#102 will r
#106 db

I think GM’s can be fined for public UFA discussions before July 1. DL may have more leeway in what the King’s owner – Philip Anschutz who is ranked #37 richest American – gives him as an internal budget for the upcoming season because the Kings had a very good reg season and even made the PO’s after a long drought.
In terms of franchise value, Forbes recently valued LA Kings at #13 whereas the Sharks are #19.

I suspect that DW made his decision to move in a “new direction” last summer and it didn’t include PM. All the chips were put on Dany Heatley to take us to the Promised Land this season. Pavelski /Seto were positioned to be the franchise’s new face. Seto was promoted to the top line to play with the shiny new toy from Ottawa when the season started. PM was unceremoniously demoted to the 2nd line shortly after the C was stripped from him.

If you consider the organization’s internal budget for players’ salaries, as of last summer DW made up his mind that he was not resigning either PM or Nabby. Heater’s cap hit is $7.5 Million but Heater’s salary is actually $8 Million and this past season if I’m not mistaken, Ottawa was on the hook for $4 Million of Heater’s salary. This coming season, Ottawa is off the hook for subsidizing Heater’s pay check so the Sharks’ committee of shareholders are paying the full $8 Million. So what I’m saying is that even if DW does not re-sign Nabby, he’s got to put most of that $5.5 million to the extra $4 Million he picks for Heater’s salary. There’s just $1.5 Million left from what he gains from letting Nabby walk – both Seto and Pavs are RFA, Karlsson’s 1 year contract is expiring. There’s the holes in the 3rd and 4th lines due to UFA’s. Even Staubitz ( who DW seems to like) is RFA. DW faces many difficult decisions this off season – I don’t envy him.

Nick

Err….

“Heater’s cap hit is $7.5 Million but Heater’s salary is actually $8 Million and this past season if I’m not mistaken, Ottawa was on the hook for $4 Million of Heater’s salary.”
Ottawa paid that $4 as a bonus. That’s why Doug Wilson didn’t even look at him until the date that bonus came into effect passed–Had he ben moved before then, his new home would be on the hook for his full salary plus the bonus. The bonus didn’t count towards the cap, but it’s still a lot of money. This year he’s $8m, flat. No bonus as far as I know.

“If you consider the organization’s internal budget for players’ salaries, as of last summer DW made up his mind that he was not resigning either PM or Nabby.”
Really? When did he say that? I object on the grounds of speculation without evidence.

What he’s said is that his policy is to not talk about contracts during the season. This is a wise policy, as the best case scenario is that by talking contracts during the season you risk distracting the player from what’s going on–worst case scenario is much worse…

db

just to clarify, Heatley made $8m last season and the Sharks only had to pay 4 of it. but beginning next season he makes 7.5 for the next four seasons, and the sharks have to pay all of it. his cap hit is 7.5

nabokov made $6m last season

DW saying that he had $20m to work with is very misleading because it does not include Marleau, Blake, nabokov, OR

1. Here’s what was stated in an article dated June 12, 2009 by reporter Bruce Garrioch (who btw recently won an award for his investigation and coverage of the Dany Heatley story ie. Garrioch’s facts should be accurate). Garrioch said that for the upcoming 2009-2010 season Heatley’s salary was $8 Million total and that 1/2 of it was a front end loaded $4 Million bonus due on July 01, 2009. Therefore, according to my calculation since Melnyk finally broke down and ponied up the $4 Million, DW only had to pay the remaining $4 Million of salary this past season.

“Two league executives confirmed to Sun Media yesterday that if the high-scoring winger isn’t dealt by July 1, Senators owner Eugene Melnyk will be on the hook to pay Heatley a whopping $4-million bonus (all terms US), even if he doesn’t play for Ottawa next season…Not only is the bonus costly for the Senators, both executives indicated it could “seriously hamper” GM Bryan Murray’s ability to move Heatley before the NHL draft June 26-27 at the Bell Centre in Montreal….Heatley, who is scheduled to make $8 million next season ($4 million in salary and $4 million in bonus), may have really cornered the Senators with his trade demand.”

2. You are correct when you say I was speculating about what the events relating to PM last summer and early season represented. I have never claimed to be a mind reader or a resident fly on the wall of the Sharks Front Office. However as a devoted Sharks fan who follows news articles, press releases about a team I love, I saw a number of puzzling and disconcerting things happen one after another regarding PM, and I have a right to state my considered personal opinion on how those past events may have been connected and might impact issues under discussion and speculation by fans here today. You do a lot of speculating here, too, without providing evidence or proof. I think it’s cool that all of us fans speculate and formulate personal opinions about the team – to me it shows the franchise is well loved and stable and won’t teeter any time soon like other franchises that are not supported by a strong vital fan interest base.

Dave Silva

don’t forget the owners have to approve spending to the cap….the sharks arn’t a major market team…and they’ve only spent to the cap a few season….they could let a few of these guys walk…look for cheaper vets or rookies…save the money and then aqcuire someone at the deadline for half price…..just saying. there is no gurantee ownership will spend to the cap so it doesn’t matter how much money they have coming off if the dw can’t spend it

The FowlOne

Hawkcrusher and Nick: Great stuff. Usually agree with Nick, but think Hawkcrusher may be onto something. DW may be thinking if he gets Patty back at a discount, that is a bonus but he does not intend to pay market. Take the $$ and buy a replacement for Blake (upgrade him)? Perhaps Scott Niedermayer? That would be very strange, but Dougie has always wanted Niedermayer here. Just dreaming about Boyle-Murray, Niedermayer-Vlassic, Demers-Huskins D sounds great. Imagine the transition game and speed with which we would move the puck. Shoot, I could play net with that D in front of you.

Personally, I would give Patty up (I was done with Nabby long ago) for another star D and more investment in lines 3 and 4. Couture could move up to the top lines.

Netminder Henrik Karlsson does NOT make $1,3 million… He make something like $160 000 wich in swedish currency is 1,3 million…

cap-o-113

Hey #85 Marleau did not check out in the Anaheim series he had both game winning goals, one in OT to force a game 6. Granted something looked wrong with him during the Col series. We found out he had the flu and as you recall it got so bad he needed an IV and could not go in game 1 v Detroit! An IV folks. When Patty got healthy he caught fire! GWG in game 3 OT at “the joe”. GWG and series clinching goal at the tank. 5 of only 7 goals by Niemi. Would you now characterise Joe Pavelski as ‘checking out v Chi’?

I think Blake will retire in part to help Douglas Wilson offer Marleau a contract he will sign, if they pass on Nabby too, maybe enough to get it done for the deserving fan base in SJ. I hope so. I don’t want that shifty eyed lawyer GM Lombardi getting this guy in the ‘Evil part of California’

Nick

All I know about Heatley is that nhlnumbers.com shows him as being $8m this year and next year. It doesn’t show a bonus hit, neither for San Jose nor for Ottawa, so I don’t know how that factors into things. But regardless, that site shows San Jose as having paid $8m, of which $7.5m counted towards the cap (Did he miss games to account for the last $.5m? I can’t remember any injuries, but my brain don’t work so good early.)

I do remember that when he was still a rumor, the discussion was about how he was going to make so much, and there’d be a bonus on top of that (effectively making him a $12m man).

I mean, we’ll certainly see what happens. But I don’t think SJS’ll be blindsided by a huge hit, otherwise it’d be the talk of the blogosphere by now–how the team must be imploded just to make budget. TSN hasn’t done its Off-Season Game Plan for SJS yet (I’d link it, but then this post would need to be approved before going through. It’s on their nhl page, towards the bottom in the fantasy section–which shouldn’t be held against the article 😛 ) so we’ll find out in a week or two, when they finally get as far as the teams eliminated in round 3.

Nick

Oh, wait, I can link you to it in a separate post. So, yeah, check there in a while and they’ll have the Sharks’ cap situation outlined nicely.

There’ll be a lot of subjective stuff there, as well, but what’s important is the cap analysis.

JB

Nick, my memory (implied disclaimer) says Dany gets 8.m this year, 7.5 against the cap because if the way the contract structured but I’m too lazy to look it up, and that 4m was a lump payment of the half of the 09/10 salary; it was paid by Ottawa but counts against SJ’s cap numbers. So SJ paid 4m in salary for him this year.

icehawkey

oh the kracken is about that goalie?! i thought release the kracken was like “jamjam” or some other dumb war cry! ha! i knew it was a titans/sea monster reference but why say it during the playoffs? cuz he was in pressbox? the kracken lived off iceland and norway not sweden btw. close enough for americans i guess. kracken is good plus i think prongers teammates, esp the ones that dont like him (read all), call him “the beast”. man i really really hope we get a goalie that plays like its 2010 not 1990. fyi if anyone wants to understand the position of goaltender pick up a copy of goalies world magazine(gilles moffet editor)available at some borders or if you are avid brian daccords newest book/dvd hockey goaltending(2009) shows how modern goalies play and tracks evry freakin goalie on earth that matters over the age of 16

icehawkey

the mag tracks goalies not the book. and i meant ramjam. man i suck at typing

icehawkey

hawkcrusher i really like your posts knowledge tone and all. nicks decent too. appreciate useful stuff about understanding sharks roster. i agree dw gave up on patty but he might keep him at a discount plus he sure as hell doesnt want his division and state rival/ predecessor lombardi to steal him and see him 6 times a yr on a very good team.really need to promote a few worcester guys like mclaren ferrio zalewski groulx joslin stalock of course couture and demers maybe petrecki. let some dead weight go huskins wallin ortmeier nabakov staubitz leach or keep him for insurance. sign a goalie impact d a couple roleplayers with grit and/or a secondary scorer. neidermeier and turco are 2 guys i like for the vital playoff role blake held this yr since hes hangin em up. we will get better at trade deadline so maybe start the year with some fast youthful energetic kids from woosta and pay em to stay here not shuffle em to/fro. i think the needs are 1) goalie (need a combo with upside like youth cheapness size modern technique team players) 2) skilled dman(could be a shut down stevens type or a another puck mover/ point getter like neidermeyer or a combo like pronger). 3) energy forward (either a powerguy with a big but like nolan or a guy that brings enrgy by bangin like nichol redux or a guy who brings energy by scoring with timely secondary goals defensive prowess and grit like john madden.l malholtra needs to spend off season learning how to shoot on goal so he actually cashes in on his 2 golden chances a game more than once every blue moon. boyle should work on integrating his superior puckhandling to actually combine with forwards in offensive zone for more points because he can be #1 in league in scoring. maybe not more goals than green but points. he definatly can score 20 goals though and 75-80 points at least. and for the love of hockey please someone coach jumbo on not turning puck over so much. he can lead us in that stat but cut it by 25% and we score maybe 5-10 more goals and give up maybe 15-20 less goals over the course of the season. not to mention the momentum factor there. tmac needs to prepare better for next year with his new experiences from this season esp playoffs. he needs to really pick the mind of some wise people maybe bowman or the like and learn new ways or hire new assistants to match lines better or not do it so much and definately come up with ways to correct things during the course of a series. the trap worked sometimes but was overused. line juggling seemed too random. gotta play your talent over experience when it gives you a better chance to win ie demers over wallin griess/stalock over nabby. i fear tmac is so young and inexperienced and monotone that players will not respond to him if he doesnt learn to keep it fresh. sticking with nabby and wallin that long and often surely unsettled some guys. jumbo nabby heater need to be on tighter leashes. heater never shouldve been allowed to keep playing with half a groin vs chicago. wallin shouldnt have been on roster once he was healthy. nabby should never been allowed to call the shots. jumbo need to be disciplined by tmac for his egregious turnovers lack of hustle and refusal to go to net. i think tmac will be a great coach but hes still young and learning which scares me. hes like demers or pickles-tons of talent smarts and upside but comes with many many mistakes and takes steps backwards occasionally that are demoralizing. if we traded coaches in that chi series we win. dw scares me too cuz he makes great offseason moves but his deadline deals never seem to pay off much. soupy guerin wallin et all come and go quickly with no playoff contributions to speak of and we lose draftpicks and prospects as a result. dw needs to really get better on his deadline deals. if those guys all improve and we get a hot goalie im confident we make it to finals. we might just be the blackhawks of last season. remember the went to round three and competed hard but were outsmarted by detroit. same as us but by chicago. they know this year what to do and that these guys wont all be together next year. if sharks dont make it next yr dw is gone tmac too as well as the core as we would start rebuilding or at least reloading. dw tmac jumbo boyler bambi all improve i like our chances. all excuses are out. nothing shy of 12 wins in post season will do and a cup is the only thing that they should expect. we got the lesson i just hope we remember our schooling come next spring. i think the season starts tuesday after the long weekend when dw and tmac start discussions about moves since dealine for free agents is just 4 weeks away. the only way i get angry in offseason is if nabby stays. i dont care if he plays for free, he is a cancer and must be cut out so it stops growing. if patty goes to division foe i will understand to a degree but if its a division foe i will be upset but wont blame. if huskins and wallin and staubitz are still here i will be miffed and disappointed but not pissed because they can be overcome by others on team. but please oh please cut ties to nabby. ive siad it every year for five years now that he aint got what it takes and now i think my hunch has been proven so dw has no excuse as its not about opinion anymore but facts.

icehawkey

how about we ditch the sharks head entrance pregame and skate out between a giant likeness of NABBY’S FIVE HOLE!

hawkcrusher

#117 Nick

The Ottawa Sun article posted in msg #112 was pretty clear about the terms of Heatley’s contracted salary for 2009-2010 season, which was $8 Million total, split into 2 parts, with a front-end loaded signing bonus of $4 Million due on July 1, 2009 (the 2nd of his signing compensation package) and the other $4 Million paid through the season.

After Heatley demanded a trade, the Sens’ owner, Melnyk, initially balked at paying Heatley the front-ended $4 Million signing bonus for the 2009-2010 season because Heatley would playing for another team, but Melnyk finally agreed to do it because he was so desperate to get rid of Heatley. GM Murray didn’t want Heater showing up at the Sens training camp as he promised he would do.

No one is disputing “cap hit” amount of $7.5 Million or what team took it after the trade – the “cap hit” (which as you know is different from salary) went to the Sharks because Heatley played the whole season for the Sharks.

What is being discussed is the internal budget for the Sharks set by ownership and how Heatley’s $8 Million salary for 2010-2011 season might impact DW’s internal budget. Last season Heatley’s cost to the Sharks was only $4 Million ( quite a deal!) but this upcoming season 2010-2011 it has doubled to its true sticker shock level – $8 Million.

Nhl numbers and cap geek are statistical sites – they don’t do narratives. For that you need to read the news, especially since the “bonus” in Heatley’s contract was not a performance related bonus – it was the second of a signing bonus compensation package that was split over 2 seasons. I’m surprised you haven’t read about this Heatley contract controversy. This was widely discussed on hockey blogs and boards.

Here’s a snippet from bleacher report written 06/24/09 entitled “Dany Heatley: Should the Vancouver Canucks Try to Trade For Him?” that explains how Heatley’s contract apportioned his salary over the subsequent years:

“Obviously this guy can score but look at his salary. The 2008/09 cap hit was $10M according to nhlnumbers.com.

It has been stated by the Senator’s management that Heatley is due a $4M signing bonus by July 1, of this year.

The signing bonus is part of Heatley’s $8-million compensation package for next season. The other $4 million is in salary ($8M) from October through April.

His salary for the next three seasons after that is $8M per.”

Melnyk even filed a grievance with the NHL against Heatley, on November 02, 2009 to try to recover the $4 Million bonus money. No judgment has been reached on the grievance yet to my knowledge. Here’s an article that describes Melnyk’s grievance:

The one hopeful thing that comes to mind as it relates to our discussion about how Heatley’s full ride $8 Million salary next season might impact the internal budget that’s assigned to DW by the ownership is the fact that the Sharks went further in the PO’s this year, which means that the owners got lots more home game PO profits this year than they have experienced since 2003-2004 (the last time we went to the WCF). In the Montreal Gazette article snippet I posted a day or 2 ago, it said that the owners of the Canadiens were rumored to earn $3 Million in profits for each PO home game the team played in. The Forum’s seating capacity is similar to that of the Tank. So maybe – let’s keep our fingers crossed! -even though Heater’s sticker shock goes up by $4 Million next season, the ownership might not expect DW make it up in players’ salaries for the 2010-11 season in light of the windfall PO profits they just took in.

Also, cap and icehawkey, as you guys point out, the image of PM, the org’s “son”, its long standing franchise face, wearing a jersey of an in-state division rival would present a PR disaster especially because PM’s last year with the Sharks was so phenomenal -Olympian gold medalist/WCF top and almost sole scorer in the sweep debacle/Game Winning Goal Scorer of the OT Wings series. Even IF – as I have speculated – a new course for the team had been charted last summer, PM’s stellar play and accomplishments this past season might make it rather tricky to follow through.

All we can do as fans is hope for the best.

Game 1 of SCF is just 1.5 hours away, tick tock …hockey is such an enjoyable and entertaining spectator sport, that I’ll be watching the SCF even if the Sharks aren’t in it. Go Flyers!

Nick

Icehawky (122): HA! Okay, I’m a Nabby-fan and all that, but I have to admit that was really funny. Good job.

Anyhow, thanks to what you’ve said and what JB has supplied, I see what you mean now. Eh, I think the organization’ll be okay with paying both. They learned that if sow more seeds, you reap exponentially more plants. An extra $4m for a player of his calibre is worth it, especially if you consider that it’s going to go down season-after-next, and the next after that. They learned that if you get up near the cap, you can put out a better product that increases viability and overall profits.

So, yeah, I think they’ll stick with both (assuming Marleau doesn’t get a better offer elsewhere and take that, of course). They might start scaling back a little, though, so that they have room to make moves mid-season, or, come to think of it, they simply might not… They might say that the results they got this season seem to indicate that raising your own crop of players through the AHL and draft is better than risky moves (Campbell) or extraneous moves made for no particular reason (Moen).

NorthBay Sharkie

Whoa hawkcrusher, Canadians haven’t played in the Forum in 14 years. And the Bell Centre holds 21,273 – almost 4k more than the Tank. Point being, Canadians reaped considerably more economic benefit from the playoffs than the Sharks did.

Nonetheless, Go Flyers!!

b sharks

been a reader for a long time, but this finally made me post.

niemi finally comes to earth. 4 goals against in 1.5 periods.

chicago’s d apparently stopped clearing players out on rebounds.

what’d they give up, 7 goals in the 4 against the sharks? they’re on pace to give up 8 in game 1!

hawkcrusher

#127 NorthBay Sharkie

According to wikipedia:

The Montreal Forum = 17,959 seats for ice hockey

HP Pavilion = 17,562 for ice hockey

NorthBay Sharkie

The Canadiens play in the Bell Centre, and have since 1996. The Forum is now an AMC multiplex theater!

EastBayJaws

How can Philly have NO PIM’s? That’s crazy. Philly???

EastBayJaws

Got to hand it to the Hawks. They battle when they have to. Very entertaining game.

Nick

It was nice to see Niemi be human again–But why’d he have to wait a week? =P

b sharks

kane, toews, byfuglien combined -9

it can happen to anyone – not just our big 3.

must be nice having a guy like hossa for your secondary scoring.

hawks get goals from across their line up. sharks gotta match that.

hawkie

hossa nothing. it was Brouwer and Bolland and Versteeg that did the job.

EastBayJaws

I think Philly was gassed by the third period trying to keep up with the speed of the Hawks.

Nick

B Sharks–
Don’t fret too much, no one can match that–Chicago can’t even match that. Always remember that there is a salary cap in this sport that is more rigidly enforced than the NFL or the near-joke of the NBA. They have five players making $6m or more.

They’ll have a good first and second line next year, but they’ve got some serious off season problems to look at if they want to have a competative third and fourth line. Otherwise the money just isn’t there.

(They don’t have much to worry about in goal, though, barring some craziness where Niemi bolts to another team. They can ship Huet off for a draft pick or something to a team that is in desperate need of a goalie and offer Niemi his old salary.)

Bdub

Sorry as much as you might want to keep every Shark forever and bring back all the old ones, Shark management has understood since last summer that one of the big guns cannot stay after this year. They’ve done the math a long time ago. Marleau came very very close to getting dealt last summer and he’s the likely one to go this time. But it’s still not decided. Will negotiate to try to sign him before July 1 but needs to give a huge home team discount. They llikely will not do one of those 20 year Datsyuk deals with him though. Nabby will have to wait and see until after July 1 as they’ll let him go the free agency route. How do I know? I was in someone’s box at the arena last winter (no, it was not DW’s – not high enough on the org chart) – it’s all I’m gonna say.

Nick

“Marleau came very very close to getting dealt last summer and he’s the likely one to go this time.”

People say that (a lot) but I have not once heard any single credible confirmation regarding this. I’ve heard he was ready to be bundled before invoking his no trade clause, I’ve heard he outright refused, I’ve heard all kinds of things with zero evidence in support of it.

The “trade talk” has never boiled down to more than Team X saying “We’ll trade you so-and-so for him,” and San Jose saying, “No.” Which, in this age of internet “journalism” is technically HEADLINE: TRADE RUMORS SWIRL AROUND PATRICK MARLEAU! But if you look at any reputable source you’ll see nothing that supports anything more. The only trade talk last year was from a friend-of-a-friend or worse.

Now of course none of that has anything to do with what happens a month from now, but I’m still saying it anyway simply because I have not heard one shred of credible evidence beyond what some bloke down at the pub said, and yet “He was close to being gone” still gets bandied around all the time.

Bdub

He was a lot closer to being traded than had been reported anywhere. There is no credible source that could possibly have reported that.

Nick

And if it’s not credible, I’m not listening. I’m not saying you’re lying, and I’m not saying you weren’t in any box, I’m just saying that anyone can say anything. Without a link or a direct quote, I’m not going to believe it.

You’re right about the Flyers looking gassed in the 3rd period. Was it because they were tired or was it because they were out of confidence?

When Leighton was pulled near the end of the 2nd, the Flyers looked STUNNED. The Hawks otoh seemed to get an infusion of confidence/energy at that moment. The Flyers rallied a bit from their shock just before the end of the 2nd period, but starting the 3rd period, the Flyers seemed pretty flat, deflated almost from the get go. The Flyers just had a intermission rest period, yes? But they looked like shells of their former selves, the players who looked so strong the previous 2 periods.

When Coach Laviolette’s pulled Leighton, imo, it was a watershed moment, a turning point for the Flyers.

Admittedly, Leighton looked out-of-it, almost as though he were on Valium ( not saying he was) all thru the whole game – slow reactions over and over again even on the goals he saved. However, the Flyer players must have known that Bouch was not fully healed, that he’d be physically incapable of making some moves – he had only come back to practice last week, evidently playing thru pain, from his double knee injury, one being far worse than the other.

Maybe that’s why the Flyers lost their drive. They knew they were screwed – a dazed Leighton or a gimpy Bouch – were not going to be assets in net for that Game 1. Bouch tried hard and made some great saves but you could see he was stiff, a bit fragile, not too mobile, especially when the go-ahead 6th goal went in. Too bad.

The first 2 periods Flyers were looking great!- their offensive was swarming Niemi, Hawks Dmen were on their heels a good portion of the time. The only reason Hawks were able to come back in spurts of energy and tie the goals was because Leighton’s play was iffy, tentative. The Flyers 2 Dmen lines were great – Pronger shut down Buff and company and made them look like stale like last weeks donuts. Timonnen was superb too, senior Dman for the 2nd line- he’s like a Scotty Nieds clone, zipping all over, skilled stick play, a Finn buzz saw Dman. Flyers PP looked pretty decent,too (better than ours…).

Were it not for Leighton being pulled, I wonder if the Flyers would have looked so flat in the 3rd. I wonder if Laviolette will give Leighton another chance to start in Game 2 – imo, a healthy Leighton playing 80% well is better than a recovering Bouch having 100% heart but only 1.5 knees.

hawkcrusher

#130 NorthBay Sharkie

You’re right -and Bell was named in the article I found about PO home game profits – I must have watched too much NHL teevee channel with classic game reruns. But 80% or so of $3 Million for each PO home game is still an amazing profit margin for the ownership committee, yes? Although the Sharks owners might be reluctant to part with/ use some of their profits to underwrite the new $4 Million Heater salary encumbrance. Here’s the Montreal Gazette article that refers to home game PO profits. Looks like the Habs’ are now trying to play catch up on their seat prices.

“Published reports have estimated the team earned $3 million from each of its eight home games in the post-season.”

Bdub

Exactly…not expecting any buy in on anything. But for what it’s worth, the trade was simply an organizational decision on whether to trade or not to trade Marleau. It never came to that. They never officially approached him about it. In other words, there never was any Marleau for Frolov trade proposal or any proposal. The closeness of a trade was regarding intent.

boilerbink

Are you still here GP !?!

Here was my scenario for you last year, remember me telling you GP that the Sharks should have KEPT Boucher and dumped Nabby!!

How would we have looked with Pronger and Boucher on the Sharks and Nabokov and Huskins off the Sharks this year….

Now, I’m not saying that Brian Boucher is the second coming off Ken Dryden , though he does hold the modern NHL RECORD for consecutive shutout minutes, he is younger than Nabokov, he WAS drafted WAY higher than Nabokov and before and after this year had taken a team farther in the playoffs than EN.

Can you imagine Pronger shutting down Holmstrom and that big Chicago BUFF-alo.

Bouchers’ play easily equals Nabbys this playoff year and certainly was his equal during the regular season when he was a Shark…

WHY has BB been relegated to perennial NHL back up, who knows…

Every chance he’s been given the last three years has been passed with flying colors.

We may love to boo Chris Pronger, but that would have been THE addition to get the Sharks the cup this year, oh and with the Nabby/Boosh flip flop ……

Salaries of the four players all about equal out

Pronger- 6.25 Mil
Boucher- .925 mil

Nabokov- 6 mil
Huskins- 1.5 mil

Oh ,look we’d have had a couple of pennies left to keep Ehrhoff !!!

Tano

If DW lets PM go and keeps Nabby, I am going to cancel the season tickets that I do not have……

hawkcrusher

#145 boilerbink

Yep, Pronger looked like The Man yesterday – when the camera panned the faces of the Hawks top line on the bench in the second period, Captain Serious was so frustrated, he looked like he was going to cry – Pronger made Buff look like a under performing pudgy 3rd or 4th liner and Kaner went MIA after winning face-offs, probably too scared to be crushed by The One.

When Pronger would let off his booming heavy shots from the blue line during the PP, I thought I heard Niemi’s teeth chatter. Pronger’s blue line shots should be classified as WMD.

I love Boucher and he played great for the Flyers this reg season and some of the PO’s but based on what I saw of him in yesterday’s game, I think he’s still hurting/recovering from his previous double knee injury. I think Laviolette should not have pulled Leighton when he did – the Flyers would have survived his lack luster play and won the game imo – what they couldn’t survive was Laviolette’s sudden choice to switch goalies. It took the wind out of the Flyers’ sails.

Even the Hawks admitted that they didn’t deserve to win Game 1 – they barely stole Game 1 from the jaws of defeat. It was an exciting Game 1 all in all. Viewer ratings for this SCF game opener were the best the NHL has had in 11 years. I hope Game 2 will be as entertaining. The Hawks will come out with pistols blazing to make up for their sub par play in Game 1. The Flyers need to keep their fingers crossed that Leighton has recovered his pixie dust for Game 2.

Hawks-Flyers Game 1: bottom line, no defense by either team, terrible goaltending! trade the goalies, dismantle the team, gut management, and start re-building for both teams…

sharkfreak17

Just dropping in to say Go Flyers!

And have a great summer everyone =)

chevelle95127

you know i like to read your articles, but your website always crashes so i hardly ever get to finish any of them, why haven’t you fixed the bugs yet or had them fixed? its been like this all season, get it together, its getting old, and almost not worth the bother to keep coming back